Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers: Bridging Research and Practice

Upjohn Press Upjohn Research home page 8-28-2009 Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers: Bridging Research and Practice Maude Toussaint-Comeau University of Illinois at Chicago Bruce D. Meyer University of Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://research.upjohn.org/up_press Part of the Income Distribution Commons, and the Labor Economics Commons Citation Toussaint-Comeau, Maude, and Bruce D. Meyer, eds. 2009. Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers: Bridging Research and Practice. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. https://doi.org/10.17848/9781441631992 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License. This title is brought to you by the Upjohn Institute. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers Bridging Research and Practice Maude Toussaint-Comeau Bruce D. Meyer Editors 2009 W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research Kalamazoo, Michigan Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Strategies for improving economic mobility of workers : bridging research and practice / Maude Toussaint-Comeau and Bruce D. Meyer, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-88099-352-4 (pbk : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-88099-352-9 (pbk : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-88099-353-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-88099-353-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Migration, Internal—United States. 2. Occupational retraining—United States. 3. Housing subsidies—United States. I. Toussaint-Comeau, Maude. II. Meyer, Bruce D. HB1965.S76 2009 331.12'70973—dc22 2009022482 © 2009 W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research 300 S. Westnedge Avenue Kalamazoo, Michigan 49007-4686 The facts presented in this study and the observations and viewpoints expressed are the sole responsibility of the authors. They do not necessarily represent positions of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research. Cover design by Alcorn Publication Design. Index prepared by Diane Worden. Printed in the United States of America. Printed on recycled paper. Toussaint-Comeau.indb 4 7/1/2009 11:16:36 AM Contents Acknowledgments vii 1 Introduction 1 Maude Toussaint-Comeau and Bruce Meyer Part 1: Section Title 2 Bringing Together Policymakers, Researchers, and Practitioners 5 to Discuss Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility Maude Toussaint-Comeau Part 2: Section Title 3 Past Trends and Projections in Wages, Work, and Occupations 47 in the United States David Autor 4 The Earned Income Tax Credit, Welfare Reform, and the 61 Employment of Low-Skilled Single Mothers Hilary Hoynes 5 Reflections on Economic Mobility and Policy 75 Bruce D. Meyer 6 Helping Low-Wage Workers Persist in Education Programs: 85 Lessons from Research on Welfare Training Programs and Two Promising Community College Strategies Lashawn Richburg-Hayes 7 Financial Aid and Older Workers: Supporting the 107 Nontraditional Student Bridget Terry Long 8 Can Residential Mobility Programs Improve Human Capital? 125 Comparing Social Mechanisms in Two Different Programs James Rosenbaum v 9 What Might Improve the Employment and Advancement 151 Prospects of the Poor? Harry J. Holzer 10 What We Know about the Impacts of Workforce 163 Investment Programs Burt S. Barnow and Jeffrey A. Smith 11 Correctional Programs in the Age of Mass Incarceration: 177 What Do We Know about “What Works” John H. Tyler and Jillian Berk 12 Comparing Apples to Oranges When Evaluating 197 Community-Based Programs and Services Robert LaLonde The Authors ? Index ? About the Institute ? vi Acknowledgments The conference “Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Work- ers,” held in Chicago on November 15–16, 2007, and the publication of this conference volume are a joint project of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the W.E. UpJohn Institute for Employment Research. Maude Toussaint-Comeau originated the idea of the conference. Her ef- forts, along with those of Chicago Fed Director of Research Daniel G. Sul- livan, Vice President of Consumer and Community Affairs Alicia Williams, and State Community Affairs Program Directors Jeremiah Boyle and Harry Pestine, helped to bring this project to fruition. A host of individuals at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Up- John Institute provided invaluable help with the conference project. We would like to acknowledge especially our colleagues in Consumer and Communi- ty Affairs at the Chicago Fed, headed by Alicia Williams. In addition to the aforementioned Boyle and Pestine, Community Affairs Manager Harry Ford, Community Affairs Program Directors Helen Mirza and Desiree Hatcher, and Consumer Regulations Director Steve Kuehl ensured that on-the-ground expe- rience was reflected in the conference. We are grateful to Chicago Fed econo- mists Anna Paulson, Bhashkar Mazumder, Lisa Barrow, Dan Aaronson, and Gadi Barlevy for lending their advice and expertise to help us identify speakers for specific sessions of the conference. We express our gratitude to Chicago Fed staff MaryJo Cannistra and San- dy Schnieder for managing the long administrative and planning process for the conference. We also want to acknowledge other colleagues for their many contribu- tions: from the Chicago Fed, Barbara Shoulders, Katherine Ricca, Edwina Davis, Ella Dukes, Daniel DiFranco, Nathan Marwell, and Nisreen Darwish; from UpJohn, Robert Straits, Timothy Bartik, and Kevin Hollenbeck; and from DePaul University, Ludovic Comeau Jr. We thank the distinguished keynote speakers, Alan Blinder, Edward Lazear, and Alex Kotlowitz, for their dynamic and thought-provoking presen- tations. Last but not least, we thank the participants, panelists, and discussants at the conference for a stimulating and highly informative discussion of the critical issues facing low-income workers and vulnerable populations. We are grateful to Helen Koshy of the Chicago Fed for providing valuable editing services. Many thanks also to Ben Jones, Erika Jackson, and Allison Colosky of the Upjohn Institute for the editing, typesetting, design, and layout, and proofreading of this book. Any remaining errors are those of the individual contributors. vii Any opinions expressed in this volume represent the views of the respec- tive authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Federal Reserve System, or the Upjohn Institute. Refer- ences to any programs and for-profit or not-for-profit organizations should not be interpreted as endorsements by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the Upjohn Institute, or the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. viii 1 Introduction Maude Toussaint-Comeau Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Bruce D. Meyer University of Chicago and NBER On November 15–16, 2007, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research cosponsored a conference at the Chicago Fed, “Strategies for Improving Economic Mobility of Workers.” The conference’s purpose was threefold: 1) to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to discuss policies affecting low-wage workers and other vulnerable or disadvantaged populations; 2) to identify best practices in workforce develop- ment initiatives; and 3) to extract lessons for devising effective policies. This book is an outgrowth of that conference. The chapters in this book aim at offering a fresh review of the economic circumstances of disadvantaged segments of our population, as well as providing a provocative but nuanced assessment of the effec- tiveness of various policies and practices geared to redress a number of issues affecting them. Examples of programs discussed include housing allowances that address the spatial mismatch between poor inner-city neighborhoods and areas with job growth, education retention programs and financial aid for older low-income students, employment and training programs for former welfare recipients, and labor market reentry programs for the hard-to-employ/ex-offenders in distressed communities. This diversity of programs reflects the variety of challenges and varying issues that vulnerable populations and communities confront; it also reflects the many creative ways of approaching these problems. 1 2 Toussaint-Comeau and Meyer CHAPTER CONTENT The book presents a compilation of chapters from leading experts commissioned to present papers at the conference, in which they discuss key ongoing and emerging issues facing policies affecting the poor. The chapters include studies that address the following specific questions: • What are the trends in wages, work, occupations, and economic resources—the “material circumstances” of low-income workers—and what are their implications for economic mobility? • How effective are the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and welfare reform in improving the lives of single women with chil- dren? • How well do education retention programs work in meeting the needs of low-income adults? • What are the shortcomings of financial aid policies in serving nontraditional students, and how can policies be altered to better serve them? • How effective are residential mobility programs? • How effective are various workforce investment programs in linking workers to work and to greater economic opportunities? • How well do correctional programs work in helping ex-offenders reenter the labor market? • In evaluating community-based programs and services, what

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